About this book

Wood ants play an ecologically dominant and conspicuous role in temperate boreal forests, making a keystone contribution to woodland ecosystem functions and processes. Wood ant taxonomy and global distributions set the scene for this text's exploration of wood ants as social insects, examining their flexible social structures, genetics, population ecology, and behaviour, from nest-mate recognition to task allocation. Wood ants' interactions with their environment and with other organisms are essential to their success: competition, predation and mutualism are described and analysed. Bringing together the expertise of ecological researchers and conservation practitioners, Wood Ant Ecology and Conservation provides practical and theoretical advice about sampling and monitoring these insects, and outlines the requirements for effective conservation. This is an indispensable resource for wood ant researchers, entomologists, conservationists and ecological consultants, as well as anyone interested in social insects, keystone species and the management and conservation of forest ecosystems.

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Biography

Jenni A. Stockan is an entomologist and environmental researcher at the Department of Environmental and Biochemical Sciences, The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen. Her research covers tree-insect interactions, and riparian and wetland ecology.

Elva J. H. Robinson is a Lecturer in Ecology at the Department of Biology, University of York. Her research area is the behavioural ecology of social animal groups, with particular focus on the organisation of ant societies.